Third-quarter bank earnings will feel an unwelcome jolt as mortgage volume has fallen off a cliff.

Banks large and small have been preparing investors for difficult revenue comparisons by preannouncing the bad news.JPMorgan Chase CFO Marianne Lake at a conference on Sept. 9 said the bank expected its mortgage origination business to post a net operating loss for the second half of 2013.

From the behavior of both sides of the political aisle in Washington, you’d think that the nation’s unsustainable debt is no big deal. Otherwise, lawmakers would be clamoring to get a handle on it. But as it is, only a small, small group of fiscal conservatives is working to not only get a handle on the national debt, which is spiraling ever faster out of control, but to reform the entitlement spending that is driving the debt higher.

Obamacare is just the latest massive entitlement that is quickening the pace of America’s bankruptcy, which is why the fiscal hawks are moving to defund it. The same forces who passed that monstrosity, however, are now working overtime to not only keep it the law of the land but to make sure America goes broke funding it.

Is there anything that can impose reason on the unreasonable? Well, the Congressional Budget Office, Congress’ non-partisan fiscal watchdog, is trying. But there is only so much the CBO can do.

Referring to a bill the House passed last week, McConnell’s spokesman said Monday the Kentucky lawmaker supports the measure “and will not vote to block it, since it defunds Obamacare and funds the government without increasing spending by a penny.”

The spokesman, Don Stewart, added that McConnell will vote against any Democratic attempt to restore funding for the health care law.

Holiday hiring by U.S. retailers may fall about 6.9 percent this year as shaky consumer confidence and more efficient store practices reduce demand for seasonal workers, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.

Retailers will hire about 700,000 temporary staff this year, down from 751,800 last year, the Chicago-based employment consulting firm said in a statement. Last year’s hiring was a 12-year high and up 14 percent from 2011, the firm said.